Oregon State Working With Nike On A Rebranding for 2013

Oregon State has confirmed that they are undergoing the rebranding process with Nike. The new look is to be released “sometime in the fall of 2013.”

Interlocking OS logo, from 2007

The Beavers have been a Nike school for quite some time, but have been hesitant in the past to completely start from scratch. In 2007, they introduced their interlocking OS logo to help differentiate themselves from other OSUs like Ohio State University and Oklahoma State. This was a comprehensive look that was distributed to all the sports teams in the school.

Word was not forthcoming if the orange or the Beaver would survive, but given the school’s previous resistance to change, one would assume they would. Though, with Nike’s design department infamous for absolutely absurd design and trashing of tradition and history, it is hard to tell.

Should be exciting. Stay tuned here for updates as they are released.

What do you expect? Do you fear the worst?

Your author finds it very interesting that Nike’s feature school Oregon’s biggest rival, Oregon State, would even be a Nike team to begin with. Rivals should distance themselves from one another in any and all ways possible. Why have the designer of your set also design your rival? Sounds like asking for trouble to me. I’d want my team to have gear from my rival’s designer’s rival. OSU should be an Adidas or Under Armour school. Not that the selection would mean anything better for the school’s design potential. I think one of these outfitters should position themselves as the tasteful, traditional, classy designer. Its too late for these companies and especially Russell, who has ruined Georgia Tech. Perhaps a new company, or one taking a fresh approach to sports.

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JR Francis is an actor, writer, director, graphic designer, UX guru, father, comedian, and craft beer snob. You can reach him at jrfrancis@sportslogos.net or on Twitter @JRFrancisSLN*One of several full-time uniform reporters this site has including its founder, Chris Creamer, who started his site in 1997

I fear the worst on a total rebranding.Their current uniforms don’t look too bad at the moment.The baseball cap looks great!

Michael Kersey

Wonderful! Now the Beavs are going to look like crap, too!

David

If they do a complete overhaul like Oklahoma State and Nike did recently then the move should be a success. Now if they go Oregon’s route, then it would look horrible.

http://www.twitter.com/alexparisi Alex Parisi

Could you please elaborate on how Nike has trashed a school’s tradition and history?

orb33

How about the fact Oregon wears colors that arn’t even their own. Green and Yellow are thier colors, not black, and silver, and gray.

http://www.twitter.com/alexparisi Alex Parisi

I ask because I think your claim is false unless you think Oregon’s rich history of utilizing Donald Duck as their logo or in this case, Oregon State’s tradition of sporting an angry arena-league style beaver as theirs is the epitome of great design that fans and alumni identify with.

http://www.facebook.com/ediddy406 Eric Witts

Anything is better than their sports bra look of a few years ago.

Oscar Cullom

Not looking forward to this at all

JR Francis

Alex,

Missouri, West Virginia, Syracuse, TCU, Vandy, Arizona, and Duke all announced Nike-goofy design that has little to no reason, tradition, or purpose other than to be different for the sake of different. Oregon is the most obvious example, of course.

http://www.twitter.com/alexparisi Alex Parisi

I think Nike has done a good, if not great, job of explaining the reasonings behind their rebrand designs and how it relates to a school’s tradition or character. Granted, I’m not always in love with the execution of some of their designs but I’ve never felt their objective wasn’t conceptually strong. Please take a look at what Oregon had before Nike rebranded them. They had a Green Bay Packer knock-off uniform with a Disney cartoon character on their football helmet. There was no identity then. Today, they have one.

If Oregon got duck wings will OSU get beaver teeth on the helmet and beaver tails on the pants? I hope I didn’t just give them any ideas. I’ll wait to see it. It could be horrible but if done right it might not look too bad.

Jimmy Kemp

Good move, good move for any school. Nike re-branded Michigan State and I just love it, everything Nike touches turns to gold.

Henry Wittren

I like the idea but they shouldn’t go too far away from tradition.

David

Ideally, the Beavers and the Ducks should have different uniform sponsors. But since Nike is an Oregon-based company, they have local support and dollars coming in from both sides of the rivalry. I also think it’s safe to say that they differentiate, or at least have, their brand from the Ducks fairly well.

orb33

i agree, I say OSU moves to under armour.

PriitJK

I can see it now. Instead of wings on the shoulders, they’ll have beaver tails on the back of the jerseys. Seriously, why would anyone want to rebrand with Nike. Go Adidas, Under Armor, Russel, anything but Nike.

ingmar66

I think I’ll start a new company to rival Nike, adidas, Under Armour, Russell and the rest of them to bring back good classic designs for sports uniforms and logos. Lord knows how I miss the good stuff from the fifites to the eighties. I am completely out of tune with modern tastes in uniform design. This Nike hat looks fine, the OSU Beaver logo is cool. Why mess with it? Why this need for change, from a fan’s point of view (I understand the financial gains for Nike and OSU)? Why this obsession with glitz and bad design?

Benny

Speaking as an OSU student, I won’t be sad to see the angry beaver go, but I am apprehensive about having Nike at the helm. What OSU needs is a consistent visual program that favors tradition over trends in order to differentiate from the fashionistas to the south. What gives us hope is work like the “Giant Killer” Pro Combat from two years ago. Keep it simple, keep it clean. It’s a blue color school and the look should reflect that. We don’t won’t to be like U of O, but I can’t argue with re-branding in order to solidify the visual program. Go Beavs!

Salvatore

I wouldn’t worry too much Beaver fans and alumni. Outside of Oregon and those (mostly) awful Pro Combat abortions, most of the school redesigns have been subtle and classy. Even the more risque changes worked out for the best, see Arizona State without Walt Disney…

BeNWildcat14

I feel that the uniform “revolution” that has taken place these past football seasons is exciting. Yes, some of the uniforms are hideous to some and gorgeous to others, but this is all part of the progression of everything within any sport. Just wait though, at some point teams will change everything back to the “classic” look, and that will be the cool new thing.

But I agree that these “pro combat” uniforms can in fact maintain a school’s tradition. The simple incorporation of a team’s mascot into a uniform, like the wings of a duck on the sleeves of the Oregon jerseys, is creative and fun for the players and the fans. I’m not an Oregon fan by any stretch, but I will say that the wings are better than the metal design they used to have on the shoulders.

Another team to look at is Northwestern (now that is my team). They took the “Northwestern stripe” and incorporated that traditional stripe, that the school pioneered back in 1909, into all of their team uniforms for all sports. Now that is jersey revolution mixed with school tradition at its finest. Am I wrong? Go look at Northwestern’s football uniforms from 1909 and see how similar they are to their new Under Armor unis today. It’s awesome!

Very excited for the new OSU look next season.

Robert T

The author of this article doesn’t know anything about the rebranding process by Oregon State. He finds it “amusing” that Oregon State is under a Nike contract? Uh, Phil Knight’s wife went to Oregon State. The Knight family donates to Oregon State. Nike has them under contract – meaning, Nike has first right of refusal if the Beavers go shopping for a new company (in other words, Nike has the right to match any contract offered by Adidas, Under Armour, etc.). I could go on, but the author is too stupid to understand that the choices are deeper than just Oregon vs. Oregon State.

Love Beavs

I was surprised as well that Oregon St. is a Nike school. I’m surprised the Oregon St. fans are ok with it and I’m surprised Phil Knight is ok with it. Seems weird especially with how nasty that rivalry is.

fashooga

Nike supplys swag to all the Oregon universities and colleges, that includes Portland State and Linfield.

Why would OS consider going to a rival supplier? Lots of schools with in state rivalries have Nike supply gear, Arizona and Arizona State, Florida and Florida State (yes different conferences), or Cal and Stanford?